This story has nothing to do with the kind of chicken nuggets people purchase at fast food outlets. Early on in my research career, I heard a lot of stories, some were true and others, not, but nonetheless they were good tales.
One particular tale was told to me many times, and that a particular incident occurred more frequently especially in the Gold Run and Richmond area. It was not unusual for a person who while prepping a chicken to eat, during the dressing stage, would find a small gold nugget stuck in the chicken’s craw. To add credence to this story, I came across the following tidbit: Lassen Advocate, March 25, 1897 – Vic Perry, the rustling poultry and egg denier, so reports say, recently killed and dressed a chicken for market, in the craw of which he found two dollars and seventeen cents worth of gold. We do not mention the matter as one that is particularly noticeable in this section, however remarkable it might be in other localities but simply present it as an ordinary every day sort of a fact.
Yet, here is another published account from Westwood’s Sugar Pine Press of January 26, 1928: “Gold is where you find it. Wendell Durkee bought a chicken at the store one day last week which he thinks is a bargain as in cleaning it he found a small gold nugget in the gizzard. Upon investigating where the chicken came from, it was found that a Susanville man raised it and thinks that the nugget was brought to the chicken yard in a load of gravel from the Susan River.”